{"id":580098,"date":"2023-06-25T06:57:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T03:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/no-hard-feelings-team-responds-to-controversy-around-premise-of-parents-hiring-someone-to-date-their-son\/"},"modified":"2023-06-25T06:57:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-25T03:57:16","slug":"no-hard-feelings-team-responds-to-controversy-around-premise-of-parents-hiring-someone-to-date-their-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/no-hard-feelings-team-responds-to-controversy-around-premise-of-parents-hiring-someone-to-date-their-son\/","title":{"rendered":"#\u2018No Hard Feelings\u2019 Team Responds to Controversy Around Premise of Parents Hiring Someone to \u201cDate\u201d Their Son"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n In Sony\u2019s new comedy No Hard Feelings<\/em>, Jennifer Lawrence\u2019s 32-year-old character is hired by a couple of helicopter parents to \u201cdate\u201d their 19-year-old son, played by Andrew Barth Feldman.<\/p>\n

\n Yes, in both the ad the parents post on Craigslist and an awkward in-person meeting between Lawrence\u2019s Maddie and the mother and father played by Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick, date, in quotes, app<\/a>ears to be a euphemism.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cDo you mean date him or DATE him?\u201d Maddie pointedly asks when she meets the parents.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cDate him hard,\u201d Broderick\u2019s Laird blurts out.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ll date his brains out,\u201d Maddie chimes in.<\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s this initial premise, included in the film\u2019s trailer and based on a real ad from a decade ago unearthed by the film\u2019s producers and shared with writer-director Gene Stupnitsky, that has sparked a social media<\/a> backlash to what seems like a creepy concept, with internet critics also taking issue with Lawrence\u2019s character\u2019s efforts to seduce a much younger character.<\/p>\n

\n And Benanti agrees what the parents are asking is \u201cinsane,\u201d but she and others associated with the film explain that it\u2019s precisely this extreme helicopter parenting that the movie is satirizing with her and Broderick\u2019s characters.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a cautionary tale,\u201d she told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> at Tuesday\u2019s premiere. \u201cIf you are a helicopter parent who puts your child in such a bubble, they do not know how to exist outside of that bubble, you are going to make the exact opposite and insane choice, which is what they are doing here. I feel like it is a very satirical look at what can happen if you do not give your children a longer leash to figure things out for themselves. Otherwise, you\u2019re going to end up curating their life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Broderick added, \u201cI guess what happens is when a kid goes off to school, it\u2019s so frightening that they\u2019ll be happy and they\u2019ll make friends and they\u2019ll take care of themselves that some parents go to any length to make that transition work. And it\u2019s a hard time. I\u2019ve been through it. But you really have to let them make it on their own. But these parents decide to mess with nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n The film, producer Marc Provissiero explained, grew out of his attempt to make a movie about helicopter parenting, initially wanting Stupnitsky to adapt the book How to Raise an Adult<\/em>, but the writer-director thought it was a great idea but didn\u2019t know what the story was. Then, fellow producer Naomi Odenkirk made him aware of the Craigslist ad that inspired the film.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI had drinks with Gene about six months later,\u201d Provissiero recalled. \u201cAt dinner, he said, \u2018I\u2019m looking for something for someone like a Jennifer Lawrence.\u2019 Halfway through the dinner I remembered this Craigslist ad that Naomi brought in six months earlier. And he didn\u2019t believe me, and he made me dig it up and show it to him on my phone. And, he said, \u2018I\u2019ll write this for you on spec.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n As for what the mom and dad in the ad and the movie are offering, Odenkirk said, \u201cIt\u2019s parents overstepping their bounds, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n But, Provissiero said, \u201cIt\u2019s not that far removed from actual parenting choices. You want to do everything you can for your kid. Where\u2019s the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Though the ad was real, Stupnitsky didn\u2019t try to look into who posted it or what happened, but he and the producers thought it was a great jumping-off point for a story.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t really matter what happened and if anyone answered it,\u201d Stupnitsky said. \u201cIt was just, who are these parents, these helicopter parents who are putting this ad out and who\u2019s their son, what\u2019s going on there? And who answers this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n And he assured that those who\u2019d seen the movie wouldn\u2019t think they\u2019d just seen something creepy.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf you feel that way when you come out of the movie, I would be surprised,\u201d he told THR<\/em> on the red carpet at the New York screening. \u201cWe took great pains to be careful about the ick factor because it could go that way. \u2026 We took a humanist approach and I think that\u2019s all you can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n And both he and castmember Natalie Morales, who plays Lawrence\u2019s character\u2019s friend, have a swift counterargument for those upset about the age difference between the two main characters.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cHave you seen The Graduate<\/em>?\u201d she said. \u201c[Lawrence is] supposed to be playing an older woman. There are so many movies<\/a> where the male lead is much older than the female lead, and TV shows especially, and nobody bats an eye. So what\u2019s the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n And Stupnitsky points out there\u2019s a 15-year age difference between Lawrence and her Silver Linings Playbook<\/em> co-star Bradley Cooper: \u201cIt goes the other way too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n When asked about the controversy, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch, who long championed the film, simply said, \u201cIt\u2019s just a really funny movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n And Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group CEO Tom Rothman insisted he knew he had a winner when he saw the script.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen you\u2019ve done this as long as I have, you know it when you read it,\u201d he told THR<\/em>. \u201cAnd it was not only very very funny, it was very kindhearted and very sweet, and I thought the combination of the wit and the heart was very special. And I\u2019m a huge fan of Jennifer\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Broderick, meanwhile, said of the screenplay, \u201cIt was just really fun to read, as silly as it sounds, that\u2019s a lot. Often I\u2019ll read something, and it\u2019s a little hard to read it. This was just a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n